Government will survive the tea-partier mid-terms

After the mid-term election of 1862, President Lincoln was asked how he felt about the Democrats’ picking up 22 seats in the House of Representatives and winning the Governor’s mansion in New York. Lincoln responded, “I feel sort of like the young man in Kentucky who stubbed his toe on the way to visit his sweetheart. It hurts too much to laugh, but I’m too old to cry.”
Political wisdom and history dictate that mid-term elections are not kind to sitting presidents and majority parties. “Thumpin’” is a non-word that comes to mind. But tea-partiers, pundits and zealots should recall the entire quote from President Bush in 2006.
“The races were close. The cumulative effect was a thumpin’.”
Indeed, most of the races in 2006 were close. Bush lost the House of Representatives, and conservatives wailed that Nancy Pelosi’s ascension to Speaker marked the end of civilization as envisioned by the disciples of the apostle Ronald. Were it only true…those who understood the workings of Congress and retained a healthy dose of cynicism knew the impending “Socialist Agenda” would get about as far as the desk of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s secretary, and fade into filibustered oblivion.
It is likely that the Democrats, on a national level, will lose seats. History, when not revised, is a good teacher. But Barack Obama, Charlie Crist, Allen Boyd and many other office-holders can take heart – there are more historical truths in play here.
Obama may indeed find that his breakneck speed style of getting major legislation passed will be impossible to maintain. But I’m sorry to break it to you – Republicans won’t gain a majority in either chamber this year. For this, conservatives have only themselves to blame.
Many incumbents, Republicans and Democrats alike, face a stiff primary challenge. For Democrats, that’s simply anti-incumbency fever, and that condition fades pretty quickly. The mantra which applies here is, “Yeah, he’s a scoundrel, but he’s my scoundrel”. So Rep. Boyd should be able to sleep pretty well, and Sen. Lawson can sign on to my drive to eliminate term limits, and we can send him back to the Legislature, where state employees really need him.
Republicans on a national scale have a problem. It’s like the Crist-Gallagher race of four years ago, when the candidates were trying to “out-Jeb” each other. Incumbents are facing challengers who claim to be “more conservative”, and the challenge becomes which candidate can shrink government to the point that his or her own office is eliminated.
This is the condition in which Gov. Crist finds himself, and he made a wise decision. After wielding his veto pen, and threatening to bring the Legislature back to start over on yet another flawed budget, he announced he’d leave the Republicans to their anointed ultra-conservative, and strive to gain the senate seat through reasoned appeal to the majority of Floridians who simply want someone to do the job.
There seems to be this notion going around that “independents” are disgruntled, angry citizens who long for a conservative who will champion their goal of “less government.”
Ah, and there’s the rub. Recent polls show that even the tea-partiers are not so anti-government as one might believe. Instead, when asked what the problem with government is, the answer seems to be, “they’re not doing enough for me.” We all want government, as long as the government is serving our desires and increasing our well-being.
. Our “conservative” legislature proved its adherence to double-standard governance when it voted to take government influence and money out of the schools, out of social programs, out of corporate regulation, out of sensible gun control– then inserted itself right into the wombs of Florida’s women.
I’m not suggesting that Florida’s elected leaders are stupid. Anything but. They are responding to the apparent ignorance of the angered minority. Case in point – the unidentified woman who stood up in a town hall meeting to demand that the candidate convey the message, “Tell the government to keep their hands off my Medicare.”
I wish people would understand that government is not some backroom entity out to take away our wealth and our freedom. Government is nothing more or less than an aggregate of American citizens, elected or appointed, doing work that Americans have deemed important and necessary.
That understanding won’t come quickly – certainly not before the mid-term elections. So brace yourselves for the inevitable. Government will survive despite your best efforts. And believe it or not, that’s a good thing.